All the latest from author J.K. Norry

Because what you want matters to me…

I love writing blog posts. Last year, I wrote a bunch of blog posts designed to help the writer who was just getting started or was still struggling with those first few books. It was called Why I Love to Write, and the posts are still all available to read by following the link denoted by the blue text up there. This year, I am writing about the things that make me wonder why people as a whole do the things we do. The series is called Thoughts That Hurt to Think, and I hope you have been keeping up with those posts. If not…once again, follow that blue link for more.

Right now, however, I want to talk about what you want.

Don’t start composing an email or anything, and don’t think I am some kind of genie that’s here to grant your every wish. The thing I’m interested in finding out about is very specific, and the path I want you to take in telling me is pretty well defined as well. Read the rest of this post, if you will, before you start making your list of demands. By the end, you’ll know how to submit them.

This year I started something new, and began sharing a chapter every week with my newsletter subscribers. The book I chose to share with them first was a story that excited me a great deal. After writing about my own spiritual and personal journey, and a trilogy about demon hunters, then nine small to medium books about the zombie apocalypse, I felt compelled to head in an entirely different direction. Again.

Dreaming the Perpetual Dream begins on Earth, and introduces us right away to Link. Although he hasn’t literally given up on life, Link has never really put his all into living it either. When sleeping becomes more appealing for him than being awake, Link goes to the doctor in hopes of finding an answer. Instead he is given a prescription, with orders to take a pill every morning when he wakes up. All too soon Link takes one and falls asleep, and finds his consciousness transported into another man’s body.

The body Link inhabits in his dreams belongs to the admiral of a fleet of spaceships. Half the fleet is in danger, and it is the mind he is occupying that is bent on their demise. Link must learn enough about the alien to stop him, while doing his best to live his own life during the day. The problem is, Link was having enough trouble just living his own mediocre life before all this. He’s not so sure he’s got what it will take to defeat such a determined person, and his solitary ally in the fleet does not disagree. As they race against the clock, Link must push himself to be more for a bunch of strangers than he has ever been for himself.

Dreaming the Perpetual Dream is finished, and I have shared all the chapters with subscribers to my newsletter. If you aren’t one of them, you may want to think about signing up right now. The complete book will remain available to read, start to finish, from now until its release date.

But that’s just a bonus. What I really want is your opinion.

Now that the book I promised subscribers is complete, I’m starting something new again. This time, instead of deciding what I will share next, I am giving subscribers a choice. I’ve given them four book descriptions, and asked them to vote on what they get next. All four of them are books I plan to write, eventually…I’m not asking for ideas here, but rather offering an opportunity to pick from some ideas I have already decided to turn into books. I’m calling it pilot season, and I can’t wait to see which book subscribers decide to pick up this season.

I’m not about to stop writing in whatever genre I feel called to write in, even if I haven’t written in it before. Saying what I want to say is more important than staying in a pocket for me, and the only thing I’ll never get away from is exploring the deeper meaning. That being said, I don’t expect every one of my readers to love everything I write. Instead of deciding what you should read next, I like the idea of giving you a choice.

If you’re already subscribed to the newsletter, thank you! I hope you have taken the opportunity to vote, and that you’re as excited as I am about finding out which story wins. If you’re not, this is kind of your last chance to join up and cast your vote. I’ll be announcing the winner soon, in the weekly message I send out to subscribers; and then, I’ll start sharing chapters! The whole book will be available, over time; and when it is all available, I will make sure there is time for everyone to read it before it gets published and disappears from the website.

And then…another pilot season!

See how much fun being a member of The Secret Society of Deeper Meaning can be? I’ll go ahead and give you one more link, at the end of this message, so you don’t have to scroll up to join up. Then I’m off to check my email, and keep a running tally on the votes we’ve already received. I hope to see your vote soon!